What is RSS?

What is RSS

RSS is a feed containing normally 10 or 20 of a web sites latest new articles.

What are the benefits of RSS?

Using RSS means that rather than having to bookmark a site and visit the site regularly, the news comes to you. This means you can "keep an eye" on many more news sources than previously.

RSS is also pretty much spam-free. Unlike subscribing to a newsletter, RSS doesn't ask you to give any information away in order to subscribe

Why should everyone provide an RSS feed?

Well, because RSS is such a popular way of reading news, customers expect it. Not providing an RSS news feed can mean that only your loyalist of fans keep up with your news.

How do I get started reading RSS?

You need to either use special news reader software or use on of the free news reader sites, like Bloglines. A full list is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_news_aggregators

Then, when reading a web site you like look for the "little orange icon", or the link that says "subscribe" or "syndicate" or "rss" or even in some instances "atom" (don't ask). Copy this link into either your news reader or web reader.

What does RSS stand for?

"Rich Site Summary", "RDF Site Summary", "Really Simple Syndication"... no one really knows, but it doesn't really matter.